In the manufacture of carriers used to package products, such as cans or bottles containing liquids or other similar materials, from paperboard materials, it is customary to use a sheet of continuous length of the paperboard material. The sheet of continuous length is processed through conventional apparatus to form a plurality of carrier blanks having cut, fold and score lines therein. The carrier blanks are then processed through conventional apparatus wherein the carrier blanks are folded in a series of operations to form folded carriers. It is customary to form folded carriers from the carrier blanks at the rate between about 350 and 400 carriers per minute.
One of the problems associated with forming folded carriers from carrier blanks at these rates of production is that of ensuring that the various portions of the carrier blank are in proper alignment during the folding operations. This is necessary for appearance and safety considerations. If portions of the folded carrier are not in alignment, the resulting carrier will not be as attractive as it was planned to be. Also, if the misaligned portions are adhesive containing portions, the resulting carrier will not be as safe as planned. Also, the apparatus for inserting the bottles into the carriers operates at approximately the same rates of speed at which the folded carriers are formed and is constructed with structures that are adapted to receive portions of the folded carrier at specific locations. If these portions of the folded carrier are not at the specific locations because of misalignment of these portions, the production line must be shut down. At the above described rates of speed, it is readily apparent that any production downtime resulting from a misalignment of portions of a folded carrier is very serious.